


Trial: A Foreigner’s Encyclopedia on Hardness and Exploding Slugs

by Rhinocio



Series: The Homeworld T Series [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Nonbinary Ruby, Origin Story, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-01
Updated: 2015-06-01
Packaged: 2018-04-02 10:21:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4056445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhinocio/pseuds/Rhinocio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ruby, as a foot soldier, has been to dozens of planets. Most have been dangerous, and this one is no different. But Thaqqion is the first so monochrome, the only they've ever hated more than Homeworld, and possibly the last place they'll ever see the blue gem they need so badly it hurts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trial: A Foreigner’s Encyclopedia on Hardness and Exploding Slugs

**Author's Note:**

> A few things you should know before reading this:
> 
> First, this is a prequel to _Trouble: A Local's Guide to Pseudo-Fusion and Storage Hideaways_. These two stories can be read independently of each other (they were written in reverse order, after all), but together make a longer, more maturely-rated tale of the origin of Garnet. As with _Trouble_ , I used they/them/themself pronouns for Ruby, though this is in no way meant to be masculinizing or otherwise alter your perception of the character. It is only my preference, an exercise in pissing off autocorrect, a well-needed representation for non-binary folks, and a way to make scenes involving multiple female-designated characters easier to understand.
> 
> Second, I've never been especially comfortable writing action scenes or shifting moods within a story, both of which I did a lot of for this fanfiction. Critiques and comments would be highly appreciated, because I can't learn to change what I don't know is a problem.
> 
> Lastly, somebody gets the snot beat out of them. I go into no huge detail, and the mention is short, but heads up for anyone that might be uncomfortable or triggered by or with assault.

Green. Everything on this wormhole-worthy backmineral planet was green. The ground was green (and squishy, and wet). The native flora was green, and tangled in crazy wide knots like it was trying to strangle itself ( _good_ , Ruby thought). Even the sky had a thin green haze that smelled, unrelentingly, like sulfur. Green was an ugly colour, as far as they were concerned. There was not a single thing Ruby could think of that was green and enjoyable.

Least of all Olivine.

“Could you quit your incessant complaining for a _fifth_ of a damn cycle?” Ruby snarled, lobbing a hunk of earth at the wailing gem, who tucked her feet out of the way and wrinkled her nose in Ruby's direction. Several other gems groaned in agreement. “We get it, you're tired and sick of being here. So is everybody else! Shut up!”

“But this is just stupid!” the other argued, sighing exaggeratedly. Ruby put their face in their hands and groaned. Frustrating as Olivine was, she had a point... which she had made clear unceasingly for the past four hours. The entire foray onto this planet was stupid. The amount of time they had been sitting around was stupid. Their lack of instruction was doubly stupid, but that was a fault of Sodalite, the large, imposing captain of their branched-off squadron, whom, in Ruby's opinion, was a gem as stupid as they grew. Some part of the red gem wondered if Sodalite had been partially responsible for this mission in the first place, because it in itself was ridiculously, painfully, unbelievably _idiotic._

Ruby had kept a straight face all through the briefing. They'd stood at perfect attention (though their boots itched) and kept their eyes locked on whatever large purple fellow had been on stage shouting at the assembly (with exception for those few moments spent looking for a particular blue gem about their size – this was supposed to be a mission involving multiple Authority squadrons, after all). But they had struggled to maintain composure when the goal was finally laid out to the army, and part of them seriously debated spinning on a heel and marching out with their gem covered (an extremely rude gesture that would likely get them killed, but man, at the time, it had seemed almost worth it). To their disbelief, gems around them had _cheered_ at the prospect, like it was an actual, viable solution to all Homeworld's problems and needs for conquest.

There was a reverse black hole in space, they'd said, that spits out material instead of sucking it in.

Well, call down the liquidized helium rain and invite the red supergiant suns for a party (with special singing telegrams for Antares and Betelgeuse, those divas), thought Ruby, pulling their hair, because obviously reality as they knew it was ending. Next thing they'd hear was Yellow Diamond naming them a successor and Gems as a collective calling organic life the superior. A reverse black hole. Honestly! Ruby wasn't one to trust anything they couldn't see, or at the very least understand through thoroughly objective study. They'd fuse with a _pearl_ before they believed any part of that!

But belief wasn't a necessary attribute for a soldier, and Sodalite didn't give a damn who was on the candy-coated side of the convinced so long as they could use a sword. Divided off into four parts, their squadron had been assigned regions around this supposed “white hole” and asked to log variables. To Ruby's relief, having never been especially fond of flying and awful with numbers, they were sent with the ground troops to Thaqqion, the tiny, smelly, and aggravatingly _green_ dwarf planet that happened to be in closest rotation to the astral anomaly. Find out whether something there was confusing the readings on this “reverse black hole” whilst everybody else studied it - that was the goal. 

After nearly a full cycle of plodding across the spongy ground – long enough to watch Thaqqion's sole moon drift leisurely through the trees and bravely eclipse its sun – Sodalite had finally called their search fruitless, told her troops to stand at the ready until she could acquire further instruction from Blue Diamond, then marched off to stars-knew where and was eaten by the trees. Or so Ruby hoped, anyway. That had been hours ago; “attention” had be abandoned quickly for slouching among the moss, and Olivine had been whining almost unremittingly since. Small emerald-coloured insects hummed around the troops' heads, frustrated at their inability to pierce stone skin for food. Long, hairy slug-like creatures laid above them in the treetops, keening and occasionally dropping waste onto an inattentive head. Tall plants waved at each other as the sulfuric wind brushed them, and Ruby followed their curve as far to the edge of the planet as they could see (which was quite far, considering it would likely take less than a Homeworld cycle to walk the full circumference). Lethargy was a way of life here.

Despite lacking the authority to do so, Ruby had mustered up half a mind to start calling the shots on this mindless excuse for a mission and send up a beacon for rescue when something even less enjoyable than the boredom steamrolled through the trees and tried to turn them into the stinky green planet's first red pancake.

Olivine screamed. Several braver gems squawked and shouted commands at each other. Ruby, picking themself off their stomach and doing a quick once-over of their body – curvy legs still curvy, thank the primordial magma – stumbled to their feet and took tight hold of the sword strapped to their back. A deep trench had been ripped beside them, revealing soppy dark earth that had been hidden under the now-torn moss. The trail bashed from one side of the clearing straight through to the other, though the deep rumbling behind the splintered trees suggested there was an impending round two. 

“What was that?” Ruby shouted over their shoulder, eyes locked on the forest and feet very much ready to move. They would _not_ be logged away in death on a tile that said “inattentively flattened by mystery monster on a slimy dwarf planet, cycle 512”. 

“I have no idea! An indigenous creature, maybe?”

“Well, what did it _look_ like, gravel-brain?” the red gem groaned, raising one clawed hand towards the sky as if begging the cosmos _why_ they of all gems had to be grouped with idiots. On their right, a deep roar lanced through the glade, shattering plants and pushing multiple hairy slugs to gut-bursting deaths (Stars of Orion, was _everything_ on this planet green?!). Ruby drew their weapon and held it before them, ready to defend. Their legs twitched with the want to run and gem pulse beat out an unsteady rhythm. Whether it was due to the deafening cry of the monster or their comrades actually abandoning them, the clearing had become exceptionally quiet. 

“I-it was blue! Very fast! Like a boulder with legs!” Olivine shrieked. Of all people, she was the last Ruby had expected to stick around when Death on apparently massive stony limbs had come to call. The red gem glanced backwards to see what was left of their squadron, and internally moaned. Three. Three soldiers of what had been close to twenty. _Way to go, O Great Blue Diamond_ , Ruby snorted, _you really know how to pick 'em_. Themself, a portly gem whose main talent was physically blending into this awful planet's terrain and then audibly failing to do so, and... what appeared to be a fluorite. Ruby did a quick up and down of the lithe purple gem and shrugged. Cute. Whether she'd be any use against the freight train that was out to get them would be an entirely different kind of decision.

“INCOMING!” 

The ground shook as it was torn into chunks, and Ruby felt the slick slaps of Thaqqion's mud cover them like clothing. Their legs slipped in the moss trying to jump out of the path of the juggernaut, which was, truly, very blue. It barreled on four thick, leathery legs, powered by a wide body that looked more lumpy than muscular. It plowed to a halt before the forest wall, spraying earth high into the woods, and reared, roaring as it turned back to face them. Ruby balked as the animalistic face came into sight, sheathed in pebbled white skin, and hollered to the other two gems:

“It's _Sodalite_!”

Disfigured would have been a gentle way to describe the gem captain. There was a particular word, but Ruby struggled to use it – it was not unlike calling gems like themself “malformed” or “defective”. The deep navy crystal that housed Sodalite's essence still grew from her skull as a flawless structure, but the body it projected had warped into a shape so unrecognizable and ugly it wouldn't have surprised Ruby if those fuzzy slugs had died from disgust and not their fall from the trees. Large tusks protruded from beside its misshapen eyes, both weeping tarry black liquid. Transparent crystalline teeth jutted from its mouth, fogging with its breath. She was no longer the captain Ruby knew and disliked – it was a possessed creature, whom Ruby disliked even more, and it needed to go down. The red gem whipped their sword at the monster, and it glanced by its teeth; their fellow soldiers emulated them, and a spear struck shallowly into one of Sodalite's eyes. 

As though mocking the giant's roar of pain, a call of multiple voices rang out from behind them, and Ruby turned just soon enough to see the gems coming to their aid – varied in sizes and colours, all wearing uniforms emblazoned with a yellow diamond – before mass chaos erupted in the clearing. Earth and moss sprayed across the arena like a thick rain, and weapons flew. The corrupt gem creature stomped its aggravated feet, making grand sweeps with its tusks. Puffs of sparkling dust decorated the madness as warriors fell, too injured to maintain their bipedal forms. A shrill cry, and then barking – from the woods came more hairy creatures, but Ruby could tell they were no backup, because, Homeworld help this stupid planet, they were _green_. Native animals with a bone to pick, it seemed; suddenly their already dwindling forces were divided between an angry, slobbery behemoth and five furious quadrupeds with a grudge.

“Lucky us,” a pale gem quipped as they ran by, sword swinging, and Ruby grunted in agreement.

There was a moment where Ruby thought they might have hallucinated during their frustrated dancing between the two battles. A voice called their name, unreasonably composed, and a shock of blue zipped past in the peripheral of their left eye. They ducked the maw of a lunging animal and turned to punch but found the creature already face down and bleeding in the torn soil. A gloved hand sheathed in iron shook off its viscera next to them.

“That's one of yours, right?” said a soft voice, and something inside of Ruby melted, “These creatures swarmed her. We were too late to stop the corruption.” 

The red gem looked up, and the sounds of carnage behind them briefly faded away. Beside them, tightly leashed in the uniform of Yellow Diamond's ground troops, long hair tied back, boots caked in soil but otherwise polished as the day she was pulled from the earth, was the most radiant being Ruby had ever laid eyes on. She stood with one hip tilted, fidgeting with sharp iron knuckles and staring tight-lipped towards the monster that had once been Sodalite. Suddenly the primary colour of this gem-forsaken planet didn't seem so bad; her skin contrasted with it like the second moon of Homeworld in an empty sky. 

“ _Sapphire_ ,” they sighed, and the blue gem's face lit up with a bashful grin. 

“I missed you too,” she said. Someone in the distance screamed, and another large quadrupedal body brokenly flew past them. The mud from its fall splattered across Sapphire's face, and her expression turned serious. She gestured up at the deep blue creature, currently ramming its face at a party of gems, one of which thankfully had summoned a shield. “What can you tell me about her?”

Ruby nodded. “Sodalite. Pathetic excuse for a captain. Big, dumb, loud. Fights with her fists, mostly. I've never seen her pull a weapon from her gem.”

“Sodalite.” Sapphire's lips pressed into a thin line. “Sodium and oxygen-based?”

“Um, yes?”

“Tectosilicate?”

“I have no idea.”

“Hextetrahedral symmetry, right? Poor cleavage?”

“Hey, I thought I was your favourite gem,” Ruby smirked, and the blue gem sniggered, then gasped.

“Wait, Ruby, what's her hardness?”

“I was kind of being serious, y'know.”

“So was I! Do you know or not?”

“Uh,” they stared at the creature, and watched as it threw some poor soul up into the air. Ruby's fists twitched, wanting so badly to join the fray, to bellow at the top of their lungs and throw quick, furious punch- “Yes! Not exactly!” they said, their mind grasping at a memory, “But it's less than mine. I banged into her on the flight here and her arm bruised. It's gotta be way less.”

In a flash, Sapphire was running, and Ruby dashed after, staggering in the wet earth. Discarded weapons lay just out of reach, but the red gem didn't dare stop to snatch one up; they hadn't been much use on Sodalite's leathery skin anyway, by the look of it. The great monster howled, the white stones of its face notched with the barbs of swords and pikes, and bashed its massive feet into the ground, looking more annoyed than injured. A soft violet spray of dust from under its hideous toes told Ruby some unfortunate gem had met their match; part of them wondered for the slender fluorite. 

“Ruby, come on!” The red gem followed Sapphire in a sharp veer to the left, away from Sodalite's uninjured eye, and held her arm aloft, fist tight and iron knuckles shining. Taking the hint, Ruby flexed their palm and called deep into their own gem for a weapon, and in a burst of red flame their fist had enclosed itself in a thick glove, its surface rough and jagged. They grinned toothily at it, pleased at the addition. _Now,_ they thought delightedly, _I can kick some butt._

Had they known what Sapphire intended to ask, seconds later, as they skid to a stop behind Sodalite's massive, ugly behind, Ruby might have felt a twinge less enthralled with the idea of battle. They stared at the blue gem, cringing, and repeated flatly, “You want me to throw you.”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“ _Ruby_.” Thin, sure arms wrapped around their neck, and one mud-encrusted foot held itself in the air by Ruby's hips. Behind the soft curtain of her bangs, the red gem was sure Sapphire was glaring at them. With an exaggerated exhale they hooked their hands under her foot and held tight. Their legs bent, ready to launch, and Sapphire's forehead bopped gently against theirs. “Don't forget to catch me.”

Less than graceful was the landing the blue gem made on the back of Ruby's corrupted captain, and their breath caught as she fumbled for a grip in the folds of its plated skin. A wild right arm windmilled and then bashed its fist downwards; Sapphire straddled the arm, looking for all the world like she was trying to ride the behemoth below her. Sodalite jerked, and Sapphire pitched forward. Ruby felt their (hypothetical) heart stop. Time to move.

With a furious launch Ruby took off towards the great monster's back leg, squashing clumps of moss and trying very hard not to twist their ankles as they slid through the muck. The clearing had gone oddly quiet; whether it was due to the frantic gem pulse pounding in Ruby's head or the deaths of too many Yellow Diamond forces they didn't know. A huge blue tower of a leg beside them lifted, Sodalite bellowed, and as they ran the red gem dared to crane their neck to see where Sapphire was. The wall of mottled skin curved towards the sky like a mountain; the vertigo made Ruby stumble. A loud, disgusting splash deafened them as Sodalite's massive foot crashed into the ground, and a wave of heavy mud momentarily buried them.

 _A day in the life of a tiny soldier,_ griped a voice in the back of Ruby's mind. Truly, the red gem wasn't an anomaly – at least, not because of their size. Corundums could only be made under very specific conditions in very petite quantities, rubies especially. They'd pretty much all come from the same hot, unnamed planet on the outskirts of the Red Spider nebula; the only place with a magma core. Wedged between various other stones and brushed with iron and chromium, warmed by a sea of molten earth... the hole Ruby had been formed in was cozy (and a tad too set in its coziness to accept the idea that _maybe_ its inhabitant would like to have been a _teensy_ bit larger). They couldn't really complain about their size, because small stature and sturdiness was a corundum's lot in life, but what Ruby wouldn't do to have a body four times bigger that could take a surprise mud bath and not be left regurgitating green dirt.

A shout woke Ruby from their angry haze and they staggered to their feet, gloved fist at the ready. Sodalite's thick leg stood not a foot in front of them, its weight squelching into the earth like a verbal invitation. How convenient. Grinning evilly – _Don't mind if I do!_ – Ruby hauled back and punched.

If a bone shatters in the forest, and there's only one gem close enough to hear it, does it really make a sound? Disturbing questions gleefully bounced around in Ruby's skull as they took another jab at Sodalite's shin, then at the thigh as the creature's weight caved towards the injury and made the fresh limb available. Sapphire had been right: in this compromised state, Sodalite wasn't strong enough to defend against the brute force of a harder gem. Size wasn't a necessity here, Ruby thought smugly, because it was all about _quality_. With a guttural moan the monster began to tilt towards them; the red gem cackled all the while they bolted clear, and made halfhearted swing at Sodalite's collapsing front leg as they passed. A sick crack told them they needn't have put so much effort in the first time. 

Noisy crunches rang out from above as the brute fell, and Ruby caught a glimpse of a tiny blue smudge astride Sodalite's spine, ripping huge chunks of its skin apart. With a final feral scream and devastating lurch the gem was thrown off, and the ground thrummed as though an earthquake had grasped it. Ruby toppled backwards, but stretched their arms skyward; with a drawn-out screech and a ramming force, Sapphire's body deposited itself into their arms, knocking the breath from their lungs. Mud swam into their mouth.

“ _Ruby!_ ” chortled the soft voice, yanking them free of the earth. The red gem tried ineffectively to spit out the grit between their teeth, and gave Sapphire a tired grin. As they were now, bathed almost entirely in goopy green moss and soil, hair slicked to their faces and uniforms obscured, they could have been mistaken for Thaqqian locals. Sapphire pressed her forehead against theirs, and with a resigned sigh, Ruby decided that they wouldn't necessarily mind the misinterpretation. Homeworld held nothing for them but orders, bullying, and, since the moment this gorgeous blue gem had invaded their life, gnawing, concealed lust. If they were to assume a life on this stinky space rock at least two of those issues could be avoided. Ruby's thumb traced a small, mindless circle along Sapphire's side. _Maybe even three._

A heavy breeze nagged at them, and both gems turned to watch as the mangled remains of Sodalite's body dissolved, leaving nothing but the deep blue crystal that had perched on its hideous face. The space around them seemed massive, suddenly – a single slug yawned in a far away tree, but all else was silent. Ruby dared a look around as Sapphire staggered through the wreckage towards the fallen captain, and emotion inside them dully twitched at the fragments of gems dotting the terrain like seeds. Amethyst. Tiger's Eye. Celestite. Chrysoprase. Fluorite.

Sapphire's voice called to them, and Ruby's body responded automatically, rising from the earth and squelching to where she stood. A transparent blue sphere sat in her mud-caked hands, and within it Sodalite's gem floated, splintered on one side. The red gem shrugged at the sight, brushing off their pity. Sapphire watched them, their expression imploring guidance.

“It murdered an entire squad. Just leave it.”

A frown glazed across Sapphire's full lips, and she set the bubble down gently. Fingers reached into the breast of her uniform and pulled out a small stone disk, wreathed in gold inscription. She gave the device a quick tap with her fingers and set it next to Sodalite, then stood, staring up at the green haze as though expecting a rescue transport to drop down at that very moment, but both knew there would be no rush to gather them. With a soft sigh she turned, snatching up Ruby's hand.

They laced their fingers with Sapphire's and focused on the heavy pump of her gem, uncaring as to where they were going so long as she stayed near. Ruby watched only the ground in front of their feet, determined to avoid the images of carnage that would be sure to plague them. Now and then a gem fragment or blade handle would shift into their line of sight, and they would close their eyes. Smells of iron and earth pressed deep into their nose. An exhausted section of their brain laughed, _Fight's over! This is our new home! Make way for the first queens of Thaqqion!_

A soft squeeze of their palm pulled Ruby from their mental fortification, greeting them with a room as black as space. Blinking, the small gem spun around, and gradually their vision adjusted; red tinted a mist that hung thick around them, glistening off wet, dark walls. Soft gurgling echoed through the cavern, and Sapphire's gentle coo of reassurance danced with the sound, soothing them. Ruby followed the tug that pulled them deeper inside, breathing hot, moist air.

“Watch your head.” 

Ruby ducked, and the grip on their hand released, leaving them to explore the area alone. A low ceiling caught their curls in its rocky embrace. Before them was a deep pool of frothing liquid; streams of it cascaded down the far wall, sparkling in the red glow of a hundred speckled lights that seemed embedded in the very stone that surrounded them. Long chains of tiny iridescent baubles hung from the ceiling, carrying the light along in streams. Mesmerized by the pockets of illumination, Ruby almost missed the sight of Sapphire slipping into the pool.

Squawking in alarm, the red gem dashed to where Sapphire's boots lay, sopping wet and relieved of mud. Beneath the liquid surface, aquamarine curls blossomed, twisting lazily like ribbons around the blue body they belonged to. A smile tilted up at them, and in a rush Sapphire broke through the fluid, her lips inches from their own. Her arms curled up over the edge of the basin, and she hugged closely.

“It's dihydrogen monoxide, Ruby,” she giggled tenderly, “It's safe.”

Water. So many planets contained pockets of it; some deep underground, some laced into the air and falling perpetually from the sky. Homeworld, as it was with so many minerals necessary for organic life, lacked this strange chemical in any quantities more vast than a thin mist. The atmosphere there was too dry for liquids, and the sun too close. Ruby had seen water-rain before, during a Kindergarten scouting trip to Eritia, but an entire basin of the stuff was as foreign as Thaqqion's single moon. Curiously they dipped fingers into the substance, and dragged trails of resistance across its surface. The fluid was warm, and the earth that clung to their fingers powdered off and sunk. The dim red light beamed off the ripples they made as if delighted by the motion. Droplets mesmerized Ruby when they pulled their hand free, streaking channels through the soil that stained their red skin. Behind their focus of vision, Sapphire was watching them dreamily.

“We found this place earlier, and I wanted to show it to you,” she murmured, her voice so soft Ruby could barely hear it over the bubble of the tiny waterfall, “I didn't think I'd get the chance.” Left unspoken were the words _“I'm glad I got to”_ , because the implication followed that she was thankful twenty-four gems had lost their lives to let them have the time alone. A bitter voice laughed in their mind – and here Ruby had thought that wishing death on Sodalite was cruel. 

_There's something wrong with us_ , Ruby thought wryly, chucking off their boots. Even within factions, with gems training, working, and fighting side by side, relationships were brittle at best. Partnerships were formed for solid reasons – small gems protected each other from larger thugs; those who summoned shields as weapons guarded the backs of those who called forth swords; brute-force rubies were assigned to tactical sapphires. To spend time with a gem of another Authority's command for no other reason than because one craved it was unheard of, and a sure sign that something went wrong in their development from mineral to sentient being. These thoughts hung like a heavy yoke on Ruby's shoulders, and they pulled off the top of their uniform, imploring it to take the guilt along.

Sapphire had gone silent, her head resting on folded arms. Ruby glanced sidelong at her, drinking in the view. The blue gem's hair lay slick against her neck, then drifted in tendrils in the water. Clean of mud, her skin shone, beaded with liquid and refracting the low light. Beyond the lip of the pool they could make out the gentle arches of her hips, wavering with the rippling surface. Her dark lips, barely parted, called out to every fiber of Ruby's being, and they abashedly wondered what they would feel like against their skin.

“You're beautiful, Ruby.”

The red gem froze, one arm still half in its sleeve. Their jaw worked soundlessly, and the room began to feel hot. Dropping onto their behind with as much elegance as a a tree slug, Ruby tried to process what the other had said. Obviously they had misheard – they were the farthest from good-looking as a gem could be. They were formed short, shorter than Sapphire, even, and stocky, and as uncultured as corundums came. They had none of the features beautiful gems did; no willowy form or soft colours, no silky hair or gentle demeanor. They were a gem bred for battle: aesthetically passable but meant for throwing punches and taking damage, not admiring. With awkward fingers Ruby tossed their shirt to one side and stumbled into the water, feeling a little stupid and very self-conscious.

At first the liquid felt invasive, and Ruby tensed, hyper-aware of how it embraced every part of them, warm and sensual. A mild current swept around their chest, leaving froth against their skin. They cupped it, intrigued, and let the water trickle through their fingers. To think, some creatures needed to ingest this to live. Did they ever run out? Cynicism battled with honest wonder about the use of the Homeworld's hallowed “white hole” to create this substance for other planets. They began to relax, and the buoyancy of the water rocked them, babbling encouragement.

“You've got mud in your hair,” Sapphire said quietly, and thin fingers traced up the muscles on either side of Ruby's spine. Embarrassment flared anew within them, and they stiffened. The pulse of their gem beat hard enough that Ruby felt their hand might fall off. Sapphire pulled lightly on the curls at the nape of their neck, then slipped by them towards the far wall, where liquid spilled over stone into the pool, her hair trailing in the water like a serpentine cape. As the blue gem's head tilted back to let the falling water stream over her face, Ruby realized that she was naked, and promptly decided to die on the spot.

They knew they liked water in that moment. It filled their ears and nose, blinding their senses to everything but white noise and the thrum of their gem. The pressure wrapped around them like a thick blanket. The heat had made the fluid opaque, so Sapphire's slender legs were blurred from view. Ruby let themself sink and their face burn. There were things they thought of around Sapphire that were not appropriate – for a soldier, for a member of a different squadron, even for a gem. They watched the way she moved, heard the lilt of her voice, touched her with hands that had become so used to the contact and could feel themself crumbling, open and waiting for the invitation to... well, fuse. Or as close as they could manage without being destroyed by the Authority for deliberately disobeying a class one ban. Shame battered them constantly; their current intimacy was bizarre enough, but this intense desire to bond in a way that was technically natural but emblazoned as taboo was lunacy. Sapphire had firmly lodged herself into their life, though – if she wasn't physically with Ruby, then their mind envisioned them together (and maybe she was naked sometimes then too, but clusters of the cosmos, the figurative wasn't a _fraction_ as amazing as the real thing). 

Technically, lacking the need to breathe, they could have spent eternity immersed in the hot pool (unless water had some long-term corrosive effects Ruby didn't know about), but reason tapped at their flustered mind and convinced the red gem to resurface. There were only so many moments they could see Sapphire, fewer one-on-one, and even fewer where she decided that clothes were optional. Shyly Ruby drifted over to where the blue gem sat, slouching against the rock wall, rivulets of water lighting her skin with red streaks, and posed at her side. The leaner gem, expression unchanging, laid her head on Ruby's shoulder. 

“This was my last mission.”

“What?” Liquid trickled across Ruby's lips as if imploring silence.

“Before we left Homeworld I got into an altercation with Tourmaline, one of the captains of another squadron. It... was an accident, and frightening. But I...” Sapphire snorted, her voice wavering, “I think she liked how I spoke. She met with my captain and they've decided to re-purpose me. This excursion was my last as a foot soldier.”

Ruby felt as though the crystals that made up their core were turning to lead. Though often they believed the universe was working to help they and Sapphire meet – pure luck had seen them introduced, after all – this future was not one they could perceive as beneficial. Mixed-Authority missions were the only time they ever saw each other, and moments that allowed for physical contact were limited and far between. Having Sapphire moved to another faction meant only that their time together was very quickly dwindling, and quite possibly was going to end for good.

“Where are you going?” their voice cracked.

“The Archives.”

“That's... that's fantastic, Sapphire. You'll be safer there.” 

“I don't want to be safe,” the blue gem snapped, startling Ruby, and they stiffened as she sat across their knees and grabbed their cheeks, “I want _you!_ ” Ruby gaped. The water gurgled as if laughing at them. Sapphire's face had turned a deep shade of royal blue. Her lips trembled. 

“I mean, I want-- I-- oh, Ruby,” her fingers shook as she released the red gem's face and covered her own. Empathy welled up inside them, and Ruby could feel tears burning at the edges of their vision. They didn't want this. Sapphire didn't want this. This overwhelming need to be with each other was dangerous, and slowly, it was destroying them. Every moment near the other was ecstasy, and every moment away torture. Decades of learned culture screamed at Ruby for how defective this craving made them, and berated the part of them that begged to use the most obvious solution: fusion. Let us fuse, it cried, then we won't have to be apart! They could never go home, and they would know no allies, and they could be killed, but they'd be together. Ruby hated themself for humoring the idea; they couldn't do that to Sapphire. Yet here she was pleading for the same thing, just as knowing and just as afraid of the consequences. They hugged the tiny gem tightly against them and wept. _There's something wrong with us._

Anger built up within them, and Ruby's tears burnt down their skin. They didn't _deserve_ this! Crushing Sapphire close they stood, and spun gently in the water, trying to soothe her sobbing. Her legs draped limply over their hips; her hair had plastered itself to their skin; her fingers weakly pawed at their chest and forehead pressed against their collarbone. Every inch of her reached for Ruby, and the red gem buried their nose in her neck, murmuring her name over and over. Ripples laced with red light danced around them as Ruby bobbed through the liquid, turning in wide circles. They had no words that could fix the impending.

“Ruby,” came the tired whisper, and her voice was all that mattered.

She stood still for a very long time before opening her eyes. The ceiling pressed into the top of her head, and the water rose only to her hips. The room was quiet; no voices echoed, no upset whimpers brushed by her ears. Warm tears took slow, salty treks down her face, but she could no longer remember why she felt the need to cry. She lifted her hands and stared at the palms. She had been afraid, but watching the red light glimmer off the sharp facets of her gems, she could not understand why. She had nothing to fear. She wasn't alone.

_She wasn't alone._

Horror intertwined so tightly with delight that she couldn't distinguish the two. Tracing her own features she identified Ruby's nose, Sapphire's lips, a body that was parts of the both of them but also just her own. Her skin was dark, and reflected little glow from the red stones, but she could _feel_ where she was, her size, and the strength that waited expectantly under her muscles. She gripped at the pool floor with wide feet and pulled air into huge lungs.

“I'm Garnet,” she said, the voice deep and rich, and startled herself. 

Orbits of the stars, she thought, I did it. _They_ did it. She was a fusion. An amalgamation of two gems. A physical representation of a bond so intimate that the official process they should have needed to form her had been completely unnecessary. There had been no real dance. Neither had verbally asked permission. What remained of the individuals in her mind laughed hysterically, because they couldn't even remember their gems reacting. She was built on emotion alone. The fusion smiled, and adored herself.

There was a reverberating call from the mouth of the cavern, and suddenly Garnet understood why Ruby hated green.

“Hello? Identify yourself! I can see your gem!” Olivine shouted, and her echoing footsteps became louder. “The transport is here, and we need to leave!” How the portly creature had survived, Garnet couldn't imagine, unless she'd run off and hid whilst Sapphire and Ruby and twenty other soldiers had fought for their lives. Fury nagged at her, but she reminded herself that many gems had died, and she should be glad that Olivine hadn't been one of them. A life was a life.

“I understand,” she said, and the sound radiated so much confidence that what shadow she could see of Olivine in the low light balked. As she moved towards the edge of the pool, the green gem backed away. Part of her wanted to laugh – when had Sapphire or Ruby ever been intimidating on their own? They were so much more powerful together. She lifted herself from the water with a single step, and ran fingers through the soft cloud of her curls, basking in the comfort of her body. _There is nothing wrong with me._

Light and vibrant colour assaulted her senses, and suddenly she was running across the hard-packed sand of Homeworld, Xqbrehy's first rays of light throwing her tall shadow far in front of her, shrieking with laughter. The world blurred, and she was standing in a white room with massive golden pillars. Fear flooded her system, and her gems pounded arrhythmically as she stared down the blade of a destabilizer, aimed directly at her chest. Another whirl, and she lay in green woods, not alone but _lonely_ , watching the distant stars and knowing she had chosen the wrong planet as home. Flashes of futures blinded her, all crying out possibilities, and she clapped a hand to her third eye, pleading for release.

Her form dissolved as the visions did, collapsing back into the two separate bodies that had created her. Ruby stared at the stone floor, tears streaming across their chin, and could not bear to look up at their partner. Garnet. That was who they were together. The burning curiosity that had eaten at them since the moment they had first held Sapphire had been satiated, but the lust remained. They knew now what it felt like to be with her, to be a part of her, to feel safe and welcome in their body. Fusion wasn't the corruption the Diamond Authority proclaimed it to be – it was _wonderful_. But they couldn't do it again. A soft blue hand grasped at theirs, and Ruby squeezed the fingers, knowing Sapphire was thinking the same that they were. They had seen so many potential futures in less than a second, and only one was good. Only one might lead to joy and freedom and an alien word that described how badly they needed each other. 

There was a gasp from the entrance, and rage consumed Ruby. Olivine's feet beat the ground as fast as her short legs could carry her towards the exit, but the red gem was already up and running, their bare toes ripping into the stone floor with livid speed. They roared, ignoring Sapphire's shout from behind them, and barreled towards the green gem, reaching out with clawed hands. Olivine screamed. They went down in a mess of limbs, one creature trying to escape while the other attacked. Mud splattered across Ruby's bare chest as momentum carried them out of the cave, the green gem's head leading the way. Their fist was dodging flailing arms and bashing at Olivine's body, glove sheathed in flames, before Ruby even became aware of what they were doing. 

_There is nothing wrong with us,_ their mind cycled frantically, _there is nothing wrong with us!_

“Ruby! _Ruby!_ ” a familiar voice screeched through the angry fog, and the red gem gradually became aware of arms pulling them off the body they'd been sitting on. Ruby allowed the movement, feeling more than a bit hysterical, dumbly repeating, “She saw, she saw us, she knows.”

The world came back into focus in an exhausted breath, and Ruby watched numbly as Sapphire, her clothes barely on, lifted the green gem carefully from the mud until she was seated, and some far-off part of them sighed with relief when they saw she was still conscious. Olivine looked positively terrified, her nose and mouth leaking dark green fluid. Sapphire took a firm hold of her shoulder and commanded, “One word about anything you saw here and it will be like you died on this planet with every other soldier this cycle. Do you understand?”

“Who are you?” Olivine whimpered, her eyes wide and staring up at the blue gem. 

“An archivist,” Sapphire said quietly, a threat laced into her words, “and I can make you disappear.”

Petrified, the green gem nodded, and Sapphire smiled, her demeanor softening. She pulled Olivine to her feet and wiped at the mud on her round face. Ruby's attention faded out, their gaze drifting across the clearing. In the distance they could see the shining emerald form of the pickup transport, surrounded by varied colours of gem soldier. They counted, and snorted bitterly to themself – there were the missing members of their squadron, those cowards, saluting and probably recounting grand stories of their captain's corruption. Hatred built a rotting scab inside their body as Ruby rubbed at their eyes. Damn them. Damn the Homeworld. Damn this stupid green planet.

The next few hours passed like an awful dream. Ruby woke momentarily when Sapphire was near, but otherwise let their body run on autopilot. Put your shirt on. Greet the transport. Collect and bubble what's left of Yellow Diamond's battalion. Don't look at the perfect blue gem whom you fused with. Don't touch her. Don't cry. This is how things are now. You lived before Sapphire. You can live without her.

Eighty-four cycles almost to the hour and Ruby would receive instructions to prepare for departure to Zhypar, a planet whose Kindergarten held only common minerals and whose native creatures had bested thousands of gems. A mission there was a death sentence. Ruby accepted the announcement with a barking laugh, unsettling the seven hundred other soldiers in attendance. This is how things were now. They hadn't seen Sapphire since Thaqqion. They would never see her again.

But a single thought slowly arose in Ruby's mind as they left the assembly, miserable and lonely. It spoke in a deep, powerful voice – Garnet's voice – and stopped them in their tracks. The red gem stared up at the darkening sky of Homeworld, and traced its curve to the tall spire where Sapphire had been stationed as an archivist. On the return trip to Homeworld, one of the pilots had explained the “white hole” phenomenon: stardust from a decimated planet, sweeping in such wide arcs in front of a black hole that they appeared to be sourced from it. Ruby felt no need to gloat, only stared out at the stars from the transport's windows, because of course it wasn't real.

Good things had to be fought for.


End file.
